There was a fucking dead body in the courtyard.

Because of course there was.

Why not.

I tucked Bennett's face into my neck, shielding the horror from his view. It'd been horribly mangled. Clearly a vampire-

No.

Turn off the hunter brain.

Hayley was already in the kitchen by the time I got in there, she didn't have Hope, which had to mean she was sleeping. It was still rather early.

"Morning." She greeted, mixing something in a bowl.

"Where's Hope?"

"Elijah's trying to put her back down so we can have a few more minutes of quiet."

I shifted Bennett to my other hip. "I don't know how you let them hold her. I can barely let mine out of my sight."

Hayley turned the burner on. "It's easy when they're always so gentle with her. I thought it'd be different, when she was born, but they've helped a lot."

"Yeah but aren't you scared they're gonna steal her away?" It was one of the reasons I left Bennett in the bunker the first time.

"I trust the Mikaelsons." She set a plate out in front of me on the counter and gestured toward it. "If we're going to be stuck here together, I thought I'd make a peace offering."

"And why is that? You know I'd rather kill you than be your friend, right?"

"I figured. Which is why I brought in backup."

"What kind of backup?"

"The therapist kind, because apparently I'm the family therapist." Camille came into the room, plopping down on one of the stools. Hayley gave her a plate too. "Doesn't hurt that we're doing this over breakfast."

"If we're doing this. I never agreed to any of it."

Hayley huffed. "Stop being stubborn and just sit down. Isolating yourself isn't going to be good for Bennett or you."

"Bennett's a cute name." Camille grinned.

Hayley and I stared one another down. "Fine."

She was practically giddy as she started scooping out pancake batter.

Reluctantly, I sat down too, and shifted Bennett until he was sitting against my chest. He happily started reaching for my fork, or plate, or anything he could get his hands on really, babbling all the way.

"So what now?" I pushed my things away from Bennett, who in turn found his fingers very interesting.

Camille turned in her seat. "Why did you name him that? Was that something you and Klaus decided on."

"Well, given the fact that Klaus didn't even know he existed until after he was born, no, he didn't help me pick out the name." Had he told them about the new baby yet?

"Okay. How did you manage that?"

"Magic." I deadpanned. "What kind of strings did the alpha have to pull to get you off your Draugr accusation, because it had to be something serious."

Hayley frowned. "I challenged him."

"Wow. You did?!" That was- well that would've worked. A challenge to the Alpha? "Clearly you won or you would be dead. Those things are typically to the death."

"Actually I didn't. He appealed to the council, and they said I had to prove I didn't actually want to be part of their pack, that I wasn't there to take over and kill them all. I lost. I'm banned from the bayou, and thanks to you, Hope will never know where she came from." This was the first sign that I'd gotten under her skin.

And it was fucking glorious.

"Good. She's better off without a pack, believe me."

"Easy for you to say, you grew up in one."

"And it sucked. We were groomed to mate and breed our whole lives. Do you really want that for Hope?" I never planned to put Bennett in that position, and I wouldn't put the baby in my stomach in that either. "There's a reason I didn't throw my lot in with another pack when I ran from Klaus."

They likely would have taken me in, given the circumstances. Though who knows what they would've done with the lone wolf once my baby was born.

"I was right!" Camille's fists went up in victory, then she froze, and cleared her throat. "Sorry, sorry. My timing wasn't great."

"About what?" Hayley set some pancakes on both our plates.

"She psychoanalyzed me months ago." I rolled my eyes. "Or tried to at least. Got it horribly wrong, maybe because I'm not her patient."

"Klaus has actually been doing really well with therapy." She shifted on her stool. "Although I'm pretty sure he would kill me if I shared anything, even if it wasn't against my code of conduct."

"Oh come on. You can't just tell us something like that and then leave us hanging." Hayley leaned against the counter. "There has to be something."

I stood up. "Nope, I'm out. Bennett and I are late for our morning walk. Klaus barely lets it happen as it is, and I'm not wasting it on the two of you trying to be my besties." It's also didn't hurt that I'd been given restricted access to my phone and I was dying to talk to the Winchesters without having an Original breathing down my neck while I did it. "Later whores."